He is known for his numerous appearances on podcasts, including his 200-plus appearances on Comedy Bang! Bang! He has also been the host of the Fusion Channel talk show No, You Shut Up!, The Dead Authors Podcast, the online Made Man interview series Speakeasy with Paul F. Tompkins, the Earwolf podcast Spontaneanation with Paul F. Tompkins, and The Pod F. Tompkast, which was ranked #1 by Rolling Stone on their list of "The 10 Best Comedy Podcasts of the Moment" in 2011.[7] He is also a main cast member of the Superego podcast and was a regular player on Thrilling Adventure Hour podcast, which ended in 2015. He is currently hosting the Earwolf podcasts Threedom and The Neighborhood Listen as well as independent after dinner podcast Stay F. Homekins.
Tompkins met actor Jay Johnston in L.A. through their mutual friend, actor and director Adam McKay.[16] McKay and Tompkins had become friends in Philadelphia, where they had both started to perform stand-up at around the same time.[5][17] McKay later moved to Chicago and met Johnston; Johnston moved to L.A. at around the same time as Tompkins and McKay introduced the two.[5] Tompkins and Johnston went on to create a live sketch comedy show called "The Skates" that was seen by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross and helped get them hired to work on Mr. Show with Bob and David in 1996.[5][10][13]
Live comedic performance
Tompkins's comedy career has included stand-up, sketch comedy and a variety of other live performances.
Tompkins's stand-up comedy performances are of a storytelling and observationalist style.[4][18][19][20] His shows often consist of extended riffs and long anecdotes.[3][6] Tompkins deals with topics of the bizarre and the absurd[3][4]—such as a rant about peanut brittle,[6][21] a discussion about cake versus pie,[21] and smashed coins[6]—in addition to recounting stories about his own life experiences and family.[3][17][18][21] His comedic style has been described as alternative comedy;[10][21][22] Tompkins has stated that he is not bothered by the label and that he likes the term.[23]
Tompkins is known for his style of dress during his live comedic performances, always performing in suit and tie,[6][17] sometimes in pinstripes and with a bowtie;[18][24] his look has been described by some in the press as "dapper".[6][18][21][25] Tompkins has described his look as "foppish" and "just this side of Cedric the Entertainer."[21]
Tompkins has toured in the US and Canada[36] and prefers to perform in independent venues, rather than conventional comedy clubs.[37][38] Starting in 2009 he embarked on his "Tompkins 300" tour. Tompkins had been preparing for his one-hour Comedy Central special You Should Have Told Me at the Laughing Skull Lounge theatre in Atlanta, Georgia—a small theatre that seats about 74 people.[9][25][39] In order to fill the seats for the recording of his special, Tompkins required about 280 people in the audience over the course of four nights for the recording of his show. Tompkins decided to announce on Twitter that he needed 300 people to fill the seats each night.[9][25][38]
Bob Kerr, a Canadian comedian, saw the Twitter post and asked if Tompkins would like to perform in Toronto. Tompkins advised Kerr that if he was able to get 300 people to state that they would definitely see his show he would come to Toronto. Kerr then started a Facebook group called "I Wanna See Paul F. Tompkins in Toronto" and managed to get 300 people to join.[9][25][38] In October of that same year Tompkins performed at The Rivoli night club in Toronto,[9][38] the same club in which the sketch comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall got their start.[25][40] Facebook groups were subsequently started in other North American cities[25] and in 2010 he stated that he had stopped promoting his shows on the radio.[41] In 2011 he said that the Facebook 300 groups had become his main method of booking comedy shows.[3]
Tompkins wrote and performed in his one-man show, Driven to Drink, which aired on HBO in 1998.[4][15] He appeared on 6 episodes of Late Night with Conan O'Brien between 1998 and 2008[9][15] as well as two episodes of Conan in 2011 and 2012. He has recorded three comedy albums: Impersonal in 2007,[5][12][33]Freak Wharf in 2009, and Laboring Under Delusions in 2012.[35] His stand-up appearances on the Comedy Central network include being featured in episodes of Comedy Central Presents in 2003 and 2007,[35] hosting an episode of Live at Gotham in 2009, performing on John Oliver's New York Stand Up Show in 2010,[35] and recording two original one-hour comedy specials—You Should Have Told Me which aired in 2010[21][42] and Paul F. Tompkins: Laboring Under Delusions in 2012.[21][42][43] He also appeared in the RiffTrax live broadcast of House on Haunted Hill.
Acting and writing
Tompkins wrote for and performed on Mr. Show with Bob and David from 1995 to 1998; the show's writers, including Tompkins, were nominated for an Emmy Award in 1998 for "Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program".[4]
Tompkins's work with Mr. Show's creators Bob Odenkirk and David Cross also led to his recurring role on the Tenacious D TV series.[10][17] Tompkins played the character of a nightclub manager who is duped into reading Tenacious D's ridiculous introductions during their open mic performances.[10] He revived the role in the comedic band's film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny released in 2006.
Tompkins has expressed in interviews that he dislikes writing (particularly writing for others), preferring instead to perform in front of a camera.[10][12]
Tompkins later appeared in an episode during the show's 7th season. He was also the voice of one of the thugs in Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2010 animated film Tangled. Tompkins was the voice of Benton Criswell, a character in MTV series Super Adventure Team which featured marionettes in the style of the 1960s British series Thunderbirds; the role was credited under the stage name Francis Mt. Pleasant. He was the voice of a puppet in ads for the Ford Focus.[42]
Tompkins has appeared on several television programs devoted to discussing politics, popular culture and current events; however, he says he does not consider himself to be a political comic.[50]
In 2010, Tompkins launched his podcast called The Pod F. Tompkast.[35][55] The podcast was a mixture of Tompkins discussing various topics, clips from his live show at Largo, and segments where Tompkins voices a variety of celebrities speaking with one another.[7][35][56][57] Comedian Jen Kirkman was a regular contributor on the show.[7][22][56] The podcast ended in 2012.
The Thrilling Adventure Hour comedy show at Largo began podcasting in January 2011; in October of that same year the show's podcasts moved to the Nerdist Industries podcast network created by Chris Hardwick.[31] The show ended in 2015.
Dead Authors, a live show that Tompkins hosts at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles, also began podcasting in September 2011.[58]
Tompkins has appeared well over 200 times as a guest, and occasionally as a guest host, on Comedy Bang! Bang! (formerly Comedy Death-Ray Radio),[5][22][25] a weekly audio podcast hosted by Scott Aukerman, a comedian who also wrote for Mr. Show with Bob and David.[62][63] The show's format mixes conversation between the host and guests, and usually includes improv games. Some guests play characters or impersonate certain celebrities, usually for the entirety of the episode; Paul F. Tompkins has impersonated celebrities such as rapper Ice-T, composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Buddy Valastro from the reality television series Cake Boss (cakeboss.).[22]
In 2015, Tompkins created his own podcast on the Earwolf podcast network called Spontaneanation with Paul F. Tompkins. This podcast is similar to the Pod F. Tompkast; however, Spontaneanation is fully improvised and in-the-moment, as opposed to the Tompkast, which was highly produced. Spontaneanation begins with an improvised monologue, accompanied on piano by Eban Schletter, much like the Pod F. Tompkast. The next segment is an interview with one of Tompkins's famous friends. The final segment is one long improvised story performed by Paul and guest improvisers, based on ideas discussed in the interview segment. The podcast ended in 2019.
Since 2019, Tompkins has cohosted, with Nicole Parker, The Neighborhood Listen on Stitcher Premium. Along with Tawny Newsome, he also hosts The Pod Directive, the official Star Trek podcast, which launched in September 2020.
In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Tompkins started a weekly podcast with his wife, Janie Haddad Tompkins, called Stay F. Homekins.[65] The first season ran for 41 episodes throughout the rest of 2020, and season two started in January 2021.[66]
Personal life
Tompkins is married to actress Janie Haddad Tompkins, who is best known for portraying the red anthropomorphic cardinal Margret on Regular Show.[67]
In 2017, Tompkins stated on Twitter that he was once a Catholic, but later went on to become an atheist.[68]
^Chris Hardwick (August 24, 2010). "The Nerdist, Episode #33". nerdist.com (Podcast). Event occurs at 2:34. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
^ abcdChris Hardwick (August 24, 2010). "The Nerdist, Episode #33". nerdist.com (Podcast). Event occurs at 16:38 – 23:33. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
^Chris Hardwick (August 24, 2010). "The Nerdist, Episode #33". nerdist.com (Podcast). Event occurs at 30:28. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
^Chris Hardwick (August 24, 2010). "The Nerdist, Episode #33". nerdist.com (Podcast). Event occurs at 42:03. Archived from the original on August 26, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
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